Natural Wonders of Great Britain (part 1)

Giant's Causeway («Дорога великанов»)

The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is located on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986. Most of the columns are hexagonal (six sides), although there are also some with four, five, seven and eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres high and 28 metres thick in places.

Scottish Highlands (Шотландская возвышенность)

The Scottish Highlands include the mountainous regions of Scotland north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault (Шотландское нагорье, тектонический разлом). The area is generally sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. Before the 19th century however the Highlands was home to a much larger population. The average population density in the Highlands and Islands is lower than that of Sweden or Norway.

Loch Ness (Озеро Лох-Несс)

Loch Nessis a large, deep, freshwater loch (the Scottish wordfor “lake”)in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately 37 km southwest. Loch Ness is best known for the alleged sightings of the legendary Loch Ness Monster, also known as "Nessie”. Loch Ness is the second largest Scottish loch after Loch Lomond, but due to its great depth it is the largest by volume. It contains more fresh water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined.

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Natural Wonders of Great Britain (part 2)

White cliffs of Dover (Белые скалы Дувра)

The white cliffs of Dover are cliffs which form part of the British coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. The cliffs are part of the North Downs formation. The cliff face owes its striking façade to its composition of chalk. Dover is an ancient and still important English port.The cliffs have great symbolic value for Britain because they face towards Continental Europe across the narrowest part of the English Channel, the white line of cliffs also forms the first or last sight of the UK for travellers.

Jurassic Coast (Побережье Юрского периода)

The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. The Jurassic coast was the second wholly-natural World Heritage Site to be designated in the United Kingdom.

Cheddar Gorge (Ущелье Чеддар)

The gorge is the site of the Cheddar show caves, where Britain's oldest complete human skeleton, Cheddar Man, estimated to be 9,000 years old, was found in 1903. The caves, produced by the activity of an underground river, contain stalactites and stalagmites.Cheddar Gorge, including the caves and other attractions (village stores and stalls, etc), has become a tourist destination. In a 2005 Cheddar Gorge was named as the second greatest natural wonder in Britain.

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Kakadu National Park

Kakadu National Park is located within the Alligator Rivers Region of the Northern Territory of Australia.

The cultural and natural values of Kakadu National Park were recognised internationally when the Park was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. This is an international register of properties that are recognised as having outstanding cultural or natural values of international significance.

Climate.Kakadu is located in the tropics, no far from the Equator. The climate is characterised by two main seasons: the dry season and the rain season. During the dry season (from April/May to September), dry winds predominate. During the period of October to December conditions can be extremely uncomfortable with high temperatures and high humidity.

Flora.Kakadu's flora is among the richest in northern Australia with more than 1700 plant species. Kakadu is also considered to be one of the most weed free national parks in the world.

Fauna.The diverse environments of Kakadu National Park support animals, a number of which have adapted to particular habitats. Some animals in the Park are rare, or endemic. Due to the extreme weather conditions in the Park, many animals are active only at particular times of the day or night or at particular times of the year.

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Yellowstone, the First National Park of the USA

Yellowstone is the United States’ first and most famous national park. This large wilderness area is very high in the Rocky Mountains of the northwestern U.S.

Yellowstone became the world’s first national park in 1872.

Yellowstone has many different kinds of unusual scenery. The valley of the Yellowstone River has beautifully coloured rocks and three large waterfalls. The high mountains around Yellowstone are covered with evergreen forests. Great grizzly bears live there. The bears sometimes come down into the camps to look for food. Other wild animals move around freely in the park.

Yellowstone Park has many areas with hot springs and geysers or hot water fountains. These are caused by heat from the hot centre of the earth. Old Faithful geyser is the most famous. Every seventy minutes, Old Faithful sends hot water about 50 metres high into the air. Here, hot spring water runs down over rocks into deep pools. It looks like a fantastic white cake.

In winter, Yellowstone Park is covered with heavy snow, but visitors still come to ski and skate. With clouds of steam above them and snow all around, Yellowstone’s hot springs look even more wonderful.

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Natural wonders of the USA (Part 1)

Nothing is so amazing and so mysterious as the wonders that are created by nature.

There are hundreds of natural wonders around the world that would take a lifetime to see. The United States of America has some of the most beautiful natural wonders of the world. There are waterfalls and rainforests, reefs and erupting volcanoes, deserts and giant redwood trees.

Death Valley (Долина смерти)

Death Valley is a 250 km valley between two Californian mountain ranges. It is the hottest and the lowest place in the USA, and at one famous point – Badwater Basin – you arrive at the lowest place in the western hemisphere (86 metres below sea level). Summer temperatures in Death Valley can reach 54°C.

Giant Redwood and Bristlecone PineTrees (Редвуд)

General Sherman, a giant redwood tree of 84 metres high, is the largest plant in the world. It is also 3,000 years old, but it isn’t the oldest tree in the world! That’s also in California. The bristlecone pine grows in the White Mountains, and it is the oldest living thing on earth. The most famous, named Methuselah, is over 4,000 years old.

Niagara Falls (Ниагарский водопад)

The Niagara Falls are formed where the Niagara River flows between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. There are two main waterfalls: the Horseshoe Falls in Canada and American Falls in the USA. The falls are 55 metres high, and 160000 cubik metres of water flow over them every minute.

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Natural wonders of the USA (Part 2)

Grand Canyon (Arizona) (Большой каньон)

The Grand Canyon, eroded over thousands of years by the Colorado River, is 400 km long. It is 2,000 metres deep at its deepest point and 30 km wide at its widest point. It is one of the most important geological sites in the world (some of the rocks are over 1,800 million years old) and it is home to a great diversity of wildlife.